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(No Model.)

E. ROBERTS.

. GRAIN ELEVATOR. Ne; 256,244. Patented Apr. 11,1882.

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UNITED STATES PATENT -OFFICE. J

ELIAS ROBERTS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ED- I WARDBAUMANN AND WILLIAM H. LOTZ, OF SAME PLACE.

GRAIN-ELEVATOR.

SPECIFICATION fartin part of Letters Patent No. 256,244, dated April 11,1882,

Application filed January 31, 1882.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, ELIAS RoBER'rs, ofChicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improveinents in Grain-Elevators; and I do herebydeclare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to theletters of reference marked thereon, which form apart of thisspecification.

Thisinvention relates to the construction of the elevator-legs ingrain-houses. These legs extend from the boots in the basement or cellarof a grain-house to the uppermost floor of 1 the cupola, and generallyconsist of rectangular tubes, inside of which the bucket-belts aremoving. Such legs are generally framed of boards two inches thick, andare frequently of-a length of one hundred and thirty-five feet each, andwhile they are secured with their bottom ends to the boot of theelevator that sets in a tank between the foundation-piers of thebuilding, the upper extremities of these legs are connected with the boxthat incases the upper elevator-pulley and carries the delivery-spout,and is called the elevator-head. The buildings, inside of which theseelevatorlegs are located in a vertical or slightly inclined positionhave to be very strong struc- 0 tures placed upon heavy foundations tomake them sustain the tremendous weight of the grain stored therein, andthe bins, which occupy generally about sixty feet of the entire heightof such a building, for the purpose of making them equal to the sidepressure of the grain, are generally built of planks spiked flatwise oneon top of the other, so as to form solid'walls about from four to eightinches thick. These buildings, when first filled with grain, will not 40only settle until all the framejoints have come to a solid hearing, butall horizontal tiers of timber will shrink to some extent, and theboards that form the bin-walls will shrink-together considerably duringthe first year after 5 the building is erected, and so as to reduce theentire height of the bins from nine inches to one foot, and sometimesmore. Now, while the grain-house will thusshrink in height, theelevator-legs will not, and in consequence al- (No model.)

lowauce has to he made for these legs to remain intact and maintaintheir position while the building will settle, which was heretoforeaccomplished by sustaining these legs in the structure between timbersforming slip-joints,

and after the building had settled as much as could be expected theelevator-legs had to be cut and the elevator-heads loweredproportionally, all of which has been a considerable expense and atedious job to perform in a good workmanlike manner.

Therefore it is the object of my invention to overcome the abovedifliculties by an arrangement that will allowthe elevator-legs toshorten as the building settles; and it.consists of the devices andcombinations of devices, as hereinafter described and specificallyclaimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a partial verticaltransverse section of a grain-house and of one of the elevators therein;Fig. 2, a sectional plan; Fig. 3, a vertical 7o section, and Fig. 4 anend elevation of that portion of the elevator-legs having my improvemcnts.

Like letters represent corresponding parts in all the figures.

A denotes the lower floor of a grain-house; B, the grain-storage bins,and O D E the three stories of the cupola in which the weighing andspouting ofthe grain is performed, and F the uppermost floor of'thecupola, that contains the machinery for hoisting the grain. A tank, a,for each elevatoris located between two foundation-piers, and into thisis placed the elevator-hoot 1), inside of which the lowerelevator-pulley,c,is pivoted. The uppereleva- 8 5 tor-pulley, d, on thetop floor of the cupola, is ineased by the elevator-head d, havingdelivery-spout f. The elevator-belt g, carrying buckets I1, is stretchedover pulleys c and d,

and is protected and guided in theelevatoro legs 2' and j, eachconsisting of a long tubular box rectangular in crosssectiou. These legsextend from the boot I) to the elevator-head e, and were made continuousheretofore.

Just above the bins B, I separate each leg in 5 an upper section, 2',and a lower section,j, with a space between twenty to twenty two inches.These leg-sections i and j, I connect by a box,

is not made rigid therewith, I re-enforce by a frame, I. The connectionthus made will hold the two leg-sections 'i and j in line with eachother, and will form a telescoping joint, which will allow thesesections to approach each other proportionally as the building issettling.

With this improvement I can secure the sections 2' of each elevator-legrigid to the floors in the several stories of the cupola, while in thebins, where the principal shrinkage takes place, I sustain the sectionsj between crosstimbers that are loosely jointed with the legs, and thusI can save the trouble and expenses of Watching, cutting down, andoverhauling the several elevator-legs in a grain-house during and afterthe period its settling is taking place.

This device of telescoping connections I also apply for alike purpose toall spouts that are carried more or less vertically through the bins fortransferring and shipping grain.

What I claim is 1. The elevator-legs in grain-elevators, verticallycomposed of sections t and j, and connected by sleeves 7c, in which theleg-sections will slide to accommodate themselves to the shrinkage andsettling of the building, all substantially as and in the mannerdescribed and shown.

2. In a grain-elevator, and in combination therewith, of theelevator-legs composed of the upper sections, 1', and the lowersections,j, both connected by a box or sleeve, 7c,thatis m ade rigidwith sections j and will form a guide for sec tion i, all substantiallyas and for the purpose described and shown.

In testimony that 1 claim the foregoing as my invention I affix mysignature in presence of two witnesses.

ELIAS ROBERTS. Witnesses:

F. W. KASEHAGEN, F. U. ADAMS.

